


3 a.m.

by Mirio_cle



Category: Animal Crossing New Leaf, どうぶつの森 | Animal Crossing Series
Genre: Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Anthropomorphic, Cussing, F/M, K.K. Slider - Freeform, Player Village (Animal Crossing), reader has a backstory, reader is not the mayor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-17 18:41:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18970837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mirio_cle/pseuds/Mirio_cle
Summary: [Name] has heard the voice of her past love during K.K.'s live concerts, throwing her into a dilemma of facing her real feelings. She'll either admit to it and lift off the weight in her chest or continue to suffer the haunting of her regrets in the past.[Inspired by 3,200 bells by MissSteph22 here in AO3.]





	1. The Roost

**Author's Note:**

> There's swearing here. Reader is 21 here and has a brother who is the mayor of the town. Town name is Halya, by the way. My town name! Comment what you think!

It was still fresh in my mind, even after hours and hours of laying here and listening to the defeaning silence that surrounded my room. But this was much more preferable than…whatever he had performed. The melody, the lyrics, the whole song and the way I felt when he had sung it, still engraved in my memory, taunting me to succumb to anger and acknowledge my longing for _that_.

Why did he have to pick K.K. Love Song? Yes, I gave him the liberty to pick for me, but I didn’t want that. I didn’t want my mind to wander to the old days where the men would serenade the girl while courting her, the girl looking down lovingly at him from the veranda. I didn’t want my mind to go back to him. To that time.

It brought me back to the time I hated myself for being naïve and stupid. Even though it was meant to be a somewhat sweet and serene song, I couldn’t help the negative thoughts that clouded my mind. I needed something to do. Anything.

The Roost is still open right?

I jumped off of my bed and grabbed my parka off the mannequin, throwing it over my shoulders and racing downstairs and out my door. I didn’t even bother to lock it since I knew that no one would even think about going inside my house without getting their asses kicked.

My once neat bun was now a disarray of green hair all over my head and face, the frown I wore only accentuated the eyebags from the lack of sleep since last night and the exhaustion that wracked my body even though I hadn’t left my room once today. I hadn’t even bothered to check on the sisters, Kicks, Doc Shrunk and Harriet, nor my best friend Bam, today.

I wasn’t the mayor of this town, my brother was, so not going outside wasn’t that much of a deal.

The bright light from the café momentarily blinded me, making me squint my eyes as I approached the building. From the windows, I could see Tiffany and Curlos chatting, and to the left I saw Marshal and Dotty silently enjoying each other’s company with their coffee. The door bell chimed as I lazily trotted inside as I evaded anyone I knew in the café, parking myself on a stool on the empty bar. Brewster was silent as I felt his eyes glaze over me, and I instantly knew he was judging me.

“Bruce, I know I look like shit so please don’t look at me like that.” Pressing my fingers to my temple, Brewster cooed, shrugging nonchalantly as he prepared the kind of coffee I liked in the rarity of my visits here. The caffeine I drink has an effect on me that makes me spew out anything I got on my mind. And right now, I needed that. I needed to tell someone of my petty drama to make me feel slightly better about myself.

Time had passed since I first took a gulp from the lava hot brewed coffee. And I meant actual hours.

“Hey Bruce, can I rant about something…?”

Brewster threw his hands up sarcastically. “And she speaks! What took you so long, kid?”. I made a face at him, signifying my distaste for his unnecessary sass. “Well, the caffeine had to kick in. You know how I am.”

“Mhmm…” he nodded, dragging a stool under him to sit on. “Now who’s troubling you, kid?”

I let out air through my nose, glaring at the cup with some kind of murderous intent.

“Back when I was 16 and in high school, there was this guy named Lawrence.” Once again, I could feel Brewster’s eyes on me, anticipating what I would say next. I couldn’t fight the sad smile that crept up my face as I racked my brain for memories of him. “Real handsome, I tell ya. He liked to play around, pull jokes on me. He was my best friend, that flirtatious, smooth-talking, guitar wielding bastard. It’s where I got my flirty remarks from.”

“And this Lawrence caused you to sulk here in my café for 3 hours?”

“Nah, nah Bruce. I’ve been sulking for 5 years.”

He visibly grimaced at my correction, the corners of his beak pulling downwards into a frown. “Damn, kid. What happened that made you miserable for so long?”. He folded his feathered fingers over the other, clearly invested in my desolation.

“Well, as I said, he was flirtatious as hell. But even though he was like that, I knew that he was somewhat serious when it came to me. He would be so nice and so affectionate towards me. He treated me like a princess. He would sing his songs to me every night on the phone and I felt like he was there with me. I felt important and loved, Bruce.” I paused, downing the coffee, finishing it finally.

“I liked him and he knew it, and I knew that he liked me too. But then, all of that changed when I found out that he had his eye on this girl that was more interesting and prettier than I was all along. Her name was Thara, and shit, did I hate her. For a moment, I really thought that he loved me. Trust me, when I tell you this, Bruce. If you were in my place and in my mindset, you’d believe him too. You’d believe that…that he was the one.”

Brewster cooed once again, thinking of something to ask me. I took that time to look behind me, seeing that it was already 3 am, only Curlos was left in the café excluding me and Brewster. I was glad that he was minding his own business, invested in the fashion magazine he stared at.

“And you still miss him even after he led you on?”

I sighed, raising my shoulders in a shrug, then resting my cheek on my arm that I placed on the counter. “Lawrence made me feel loved and appreciated. He left a mark on me and I really find it difficult to forget him. I was coming to that point though, when I moved here and I first attended Tota’s concert. He's different and I know that. Little by little, Totakeke was erasing his existence in my heart but then he played a song that was so similar to the songs that Lawrence wrote and sang to me, and I was pulled back to him.”

I lifted my eyes towards Brewster’s neutral face, and I immediately knew he was trying to think of the song that I hadn’t described.

“K.K. Love song. I remember the exact date and time he sang the similar song years ago. November 23, and it was 9:02 p.m.. He sang it to me to help me sleep. Now it haunts me. I feel so guilty for seeing Lawrence in Totakeke, Bruce. It’s not him.”

“It’s not him…” I repeated, lifting my face up to the ceiling, trying to stop my tears from coming. It was so hard not to cry. Not when there’s someone who cares about your situation.

“Do you love Totakeke?” he asked, and I immediately knew what to say.

“Of course I do. Very much. Everybody does. Who in their right mind wouldn’t? And rightly so; he deserves it. Tota’s a good person.”

Brewster shook his head, snatching a cup and wiping the rim of it gently with a washcloth from his back pocket. “I meant romantically, (Name).”

I faced him properly, eyeing him with pointed stare. “And I meant it seriously.”

“I love him, Bruce. But I’m afraid I’m not so sure who I’m talking about.”


	2. Island waves

Waking up at 5 pm was nice, after going home at 5 am from The Roost and downing a whole cup of cappuccino on a night I’m supposed to be asleep. The shops that I loved to visit on Main Street were already open and the darling clerks were probably waiting for their resident philanthropist and major spender to have a look at their wares to offer. I smiled at that, trying to steer away a bad feeling blooming in my gut.

I got up from my bed and changed into a more decent outfit consisting of my own designed shirt, explorer pants, black tights and steel-toed boots. I also took my black cap and thick rimmed glasses to spice up my look, and with that, I travelled towards Main Street.

I waved and greeted my friends from town, not spotting my brother anywhere outside. Crossing the train tracks, I could see Apollo pacing in front of the post office. “Hey Apollo.” I waved my hands up to gain his attention, his piercing eyes shooting towards my direction. He simply nodded towards me, failing to hide a letter that he cradled in his arms.

Of course, Apollo being Apollo, I decided not to ask about it, and made a beeline towards Kicks’ shoe shop, hoping to find a pair for my ever busy mayor brother that I spend the majority of my bells on. He has been working too hard, he hardly had anything to spoil himself, so I’ll do that for him.

The door bell chimed as I entered, greeted by the Skunk with an endearing name he used on his customers. I browsed for a while, and settled for brown loafers his size, thanking Kicks for the item as I handed him his share of profit. Next, I entered the Able Sisters’ shop, greeting Labelle, picking up a paperboy cap for my brother, and asking Sable and Mabel about their day, while purchasing a loud bloom tee for him as a joke and a BB as a serious gift.

Leif was as cheerful as ever as I bought packs of flower seeds and a sapling from him. My pockets were almost full, but I went on. I remembered that my brother complained about his lack of a music player, so I thought I’d go and see if Timmy or Tommy had that in their Super T&T.

The jingle wafted in the air as I walked in, my eyes scanning around for any music players, such as a phonograph or a casette player, but there were only furnitures displayed. “Hey, Nook…You got any music players here?” I asked the tanuki, unsure whether it was one or the other.

“We’re currently out of stock, Miss. But I think you could order one in our catalog.” He pointed towards a red machine with their logo printed onto the base, and I walked towards it, Timmy I think, following behind me like a duckling.

The machine dinged as I pressed the screen, mildly impressed by the integrated technology in the mart. “ _Welcome! Please enjoy the Timmy & Tommy shopping catalog!” _it read, then it took me to a menu with logos of grouped items.

There were furniture, ingredients, stationery, tools, clothing, and…

My eyes drifted towards the musical note, the bad feeling in my gut bubbling up and tasting sour in my tongue. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat as my shaky hands reached out to select the category of purchasable items.

A cold chill spread throughout my back as a tempestous feeling of trepidation loomed over me, glaring at me with its vigilant eyes. This wasn’t supposed to be here.

There, on the screen, was a list of all the songs me and my brother had patiently collected every Saturday in Club LOL, performed by the loving heart of a musician and made by the wit of a songwriter.

Every unbearable Sunday and liberating Friday night that I had to endure to listen to him sing to me. To accept the copy of his crafted work of art from him, and see how happy he was performing onstage, like he was meant to be there, and he was. He was made for the stage and the stage was made for him. Music was his one true love and seeing it presented before me in a shop with bells on its name was like tolerating acid dripping on your bare skin. To put it simply, it hurts me to see this.

How they got their hands on it was beyond me, but I couldn’t do anything to find out what they have done to grab it.

The titles of the songs taunted me, beckoning me to press it and see how much they were worth in this wretched little shop of the boys.

And I did.

The screen lit up with the album covers of everything me and my brother had collected for a year. And on the top of the list was the title of the very song that had caused me to visit The Roost earlier today.

 

_K.K. Love Song – 3,200 bells_

The song rung in my ears, the guitar strums, his voice, the lyrics, it flooded me as quick as my anger and disdain had risen up in my system and I was mad that all I could do was cuss in my dialect and curl my fists as I glared at the screen.

This was wrong. It was more than a mistake. It was a mockery of the Tota’s principle of his music. His masterpieces that everyone loved was supposed to be free, as it was supposed to be. As it was like him. Free against the binds of selling out and throwing himself into the greedy mitts of big time industries just so he could have something to spend. Free of the stereotypes of the musicians scattered all over the globe, and not only in this country.

It disgusted me so much.

“Miss?”

I relaxed my hands, to rid of the obvious anger I hid in my stoic face. I looked at Timmy – it was definitely him as his eyes were a darker shade of cobalt blue that held malicious intent under the look of innocence that the both of them possessed– and for a second I thought I saw fear. Fear of me finding out what they, he and his brother had done.

I backed out of the music list, and hurriedly tapped on a red cassette player, confirming my order. I didn’t even bother to look back at Tommy as I rushed out of there, feeling my lungs being compressed in my bottled anger.

I couldn’t breathe. It was so hard to do that right now. Why was I so invested in this? Because I wanted to protect his dignity that the twins had been staining behind his back? 

I stood still at the plaza, glaring at the cobblestone path as if it were the source of all of my anger. Should I tell my brother about it? No, he’d be all honest and say that they’re trying to earn a living.

But I knew that even if I had reported them, nothing would happen. They’d never change. They were Tanukis, after all. They wouldn’t give a shit if they had been doing something so wrong as long as their business went booming.

Then I heard it. Behind me, subtle humming of Tota’s songs. Then it was next to me, right in my ear. The beat of the song banging against my skull, asking to be let in and engrave itself into my mind again.

I had to get away. Everyone here loved Tota’s music, and if I ever found out that they had bought it from those damned Tanukis, I might lose it and go berserk with the chipped axe that I had.

I raced towards the dock, where Kapp’n was waiting patiently for me and my brother to come and ask for a ride towards the south island where he lived. As soon as he saw me, he opened his mouth to utter something either hilarious or creepily flattering but I interrupted him as I hopped on.

“Take me to the island now please. And for the love of god, please don’t sing this time. I need a break from music.”

Needless to say, Kapp’n wasn’t very happy to hear that, but took me to the island anyway.

\--

The chirping of the insects and the crashing of the waves against the shore calmed me somehow as I craned my head up to look at the bright full moon that had illuminated me and the trees around me. I hadn’t bothered to catch any insects or snatch any sharks from their homes as I had enough money to feed a city, and I just couldn’t be bothered to prance around the island and hope that none of them notice me and escape.

I didn’t want to be greedy, either. So I just sat there, listening to my thoughts and trying to make myself happy again. But I couldn’t find it in myself to do so.

Soon, I fell asleep, my head lay on the grass as I succumbed to the coaxing of sleep.

\--

“Dear, you have to get back.”

I opened my eyes, seeing Leilani hovering over me with a worried look on her face. Leila was beside me as I sat up, placing a hibiscus flower on the crook of my ear. “A-ah..Leilani. Sorry I fell asleep here. What..what time is it?” I looked around, trying to figure out how many hours had passed since I dozed off.

“It’s 1 am dear. You really have to get back to Halya, now. Your friends and the mayor might be worried sick.” Leilani helped me up to my feet and dusted the sand off my clothes while we walked back to the dock, where Kapp’n waited for me.

The ride back was silent, as I had requested earlier for him to do. I appreciated that he didn’t sing, but he could at least strike up a conversation with me to rid of this boredom.

“So lass, why were ye lookin’ so sad earlier? Thought Halya was a real jewel fer ye?”

I shook my head. “It is. It’s just that the businessmen there are real jerks. _I’m gonna murder those_ _raccoons.”_ I muttered the last part in my dialect, preventing Kapp’n to understand my anger driven words.

“Yar? Jerks you say? Must be huge jerks if ye wanna kill ‘em.”

I perked up on my seat, surprised that he understood what I had said. “How did you…?”

He simply chuckled, taking a seat. “I’ve sailed the seas before and I’ve went to many places, lass. And while I visited I had the liberty and time to learn ‘em dialects. Animalese ain’t the only one I know, yar..”

I then turned to face forward again, seeing the docks only a few ways away.

Liberty. Freedom. Everyone wanted that. Everything that happened around me took me back to either Tota or Lawrence and I didn't like it one bit. I can't face my friends after running away again. I didn't feel like answering their prying questions.

Time to be alone again, I guess.

I trotted towards the yellow bench that faced the ocean I had also donated my money into and sat on it, my legs criss-crossed as I pulled out the copy of Love Song that I had received from Tota, staring at it as I debated with myself whether or not to tell him.

Tell him what? Tell him which?

That, I didn't know. And so I sat there, waiting for the concert of DJ K.K. to be over. And maybe waiting for this riot in my head to be over as well.


	3. Tota

“So you bought one, huh…?”

I jolted in my seat as I turned my head towards Totakeke still wearing his glasses, headphones and beanie, sitting beside me with a desolate look on his face that also harbored a feeling of suppressed anger as I had. So he knew about it already.

“I would never.” I replied, putting away the record and placing my elbows on my thighs, lacing my fingers together as I thought of something to say next that wouldn’t offend him in any way. “…I’d rather Crazy Redd rip me off art pieces than buy copies that aren’t directly from you.”

He chuckled, placing his guitar on his lap. “Really now?” he asked, leaning back on the backrest and folding his arms over his chest. Somehow, there was a burning fire of confidence in me that was lit by his presence alone. It was boosted by my honesty and the rage I had going on earlier fed the blaze.

“Mhmm. I was as mad as you are when I saw the copies on their catalog, thus the other reason why I hadn’t stopped by. I had to get awayfrom here or else I would have attacked them with my axe.” Totakeke chuckled at that again, and I followed. He thinks I’m kidding, how cute.

“Truth be told I don’t really like the recorded version. I prefer it when you sing it live, to me.”

I didn’t need to turn my head to know that he looked shocked at my sudden statement. He awkwardly coughed, clearing his throat while he eyed me curiously. “Uhm..are you okay? What happened? You’re usually not this forward.”

I merely shrugged at that. “What’s the use of hiding it when you’ve already heard my conversation with Bruce yesterday?”

“You saw me?”

Nodding my head, I smiled lightly. “The range of my peripheral vision is wider than you think. I don’t have big eyes for nothing, Tota. And the eyebrows kinda gave it away.”

We both laughed at my joke, and I was surprised how I turned the melancholy atmosphere into a light, airy moment shared between the two of us. If only…

“Listen, about Lawrence,” I started, turning towards him. “I’m sorry that I even thought of comparing him to you. He’s not you and you’re not him. It’s as simple as that.”

I sighed, looking off to the ocean that bore the breeze that chilled me that early morning. “I’m still hung up on him even after five years. I guess I just loved him and I miss him for his attention and not because he treated me as I was supposed to be treated by someone who would have loved me for me. But it’s hard to just drop the feelings I had for him for the past five years.”

Once again, I shook my head. The blaze of confidence dwindling down to a flicker as my time with him was prolonged, accompanied with his silence as I spoke to him about how I really felt.

“I’m sorry….I’m not very sure if I actually , legitimately like you. I don’t want to see you as Lawrence, I want to see you as Totakeke. You reminded me so much of him that when you performed Love Song, I saw him and I heard him. Every Saturday night you sang for me like he once did, you were kind and so generous and you even bothered to remember my name even if I was of no use to you.”

Another fleeting moment of quiet fluttered between us as I waited for his response. I almost yelped as I felt him touch my arm gently, and made me face him.

“(Name),” he spoke, “Ever since I started to play I only wanted one thing. For people to hear me sing and be who I am. But you, you listened. Everyone I met since I performed for the very first time only came for my music but you went back for me.” He shot me a smile that sent my heartbeat into a frenzy, and I mimicked him.

“I honestly panicked when you didn’t come back after running out of the Club that Saturday. And when I eavesdropped on your conversation with Brewster, it was a shock to hear that you actually loved me. Because I love you, too. And if you’re not so sure about your real feelings towards me, I’ll be patient until you sort your feelings out. And if you decide to go for the OG dude, then it’s all cool with me.”

As the automatic bell chimed, we jolted in place, both looking over our shoulders to look at the park clock situated by the Town Hall. Its hands read 3 am. The time that things always happen to me.

I looked back at him for a while and pulled him into a hug, resting my chin on the crook of his neck. “Thank you, Tota. You’re too kind for your own good.”

He then wrapped his arms around me, tightening the hug and savoring the time we had together before he had to go. I stood up, as he did, and we then strolled towards my house, not a word exchanged as he meekly held my hand as we weaved through the trees and flowers, and crossed a bridge to get to my place.

“I better get going. I’m going to miss my train if I don’t leave. But, I’ll see you tonight, yeah?”

I promised, and he gave me one last smile for now, before bidding me goodbye as he disappeared to the train station.

And as I lay on my bed, K.K. Love Song playing softly through my phonograph, I smiled to myself.

Maybe 3 a.m.’s aren’t so bad now.


End file.
